Tag Archives: CDC

healthcare, law

Do you go to bloggers for advice about life and death decisions? I don’t.

Many thanks to a reader who contacted me on Facebook this morning. This person probably spared you all another rant on a topic I’ve already covered. I was considering writing about Delta Airlines’ proposal for all U.S. based airlines to share their “no fly” lists. But then I got this message, and I must admit, it left me scratching my head.

The commenter evidently didn’t want to leave a response on the blog itself. They found my official OH Facebook page and decided to leave me a somewhat well-written and, at least on the surface, reasonable response to a post I recently wrote about COVID-19. They wrote I shouldn’t be writing such “strong opinions” against the use of Ivermectin in the treatment against COVID-19, reminding me that I have a “public” audience who might be negatively affected by my comments. They reminded me that no one should claim any “definitive knowledge as yet”– I’m assuming about COVID-19– and implied that my opinion lacks a “rational basis”.

I don’t know a thing about this commenter, nor does s/he know much about me. Based on what I could see on Statcounter, this person with a very bare Facebook profile, comes from Las Vegas and read two posts over the course of about three minutes. He or she probably doesn’t know that I have a master’s degree in public health. Perhaps he or she would not be “impressed” by that. In any case, earlier in the comment, the person “informed” me that sometimes physicians prescribe drugs off-label. That’s not news to me, and in fact, I even mentioned that in the post I’m assuming was referenced in the message. That post was mostly my positive opinion about Judge Charles Cunningham of Louisville, Kentucky, who recently ruled that the wife of a COVID-19 patient could not compel hospital doctors to prescribe Ivermectin off-label to treat COVID-19.

I write that “I’m assuming”, because the commenter didn’t specifically reference a blog post in their message. Regular readers might remember that I recently took down my generic “contact” page, because I kept getting comments from people who didn’t specify the posts to which they were referencing. Statcounter is a pretty good tool, but not everyone who visits my blog shows up on it. If there isn’t an IP trail on Statcounter, and the specific post isn’t mentioned, I’m sometimes left wondering which post to address. It wasn’t the first time I got a comment with no reference, so I determined that the contact page wasn’t helpful and removed it. And now, I’m thinking the Facebook page probably isn’t helpful, either, since I’ve run into the same issue this morning.

Anyway, this person who wrote to me evidently thinks that patients or their loved ones should be able to go to court to demand that legal experts force medical experts to prescribe medications for off-label use. And the person subtly chastised me for disagreeing with that idea by posting a strongly worded opinion piece on my blog. Then, at the end of their message, they wrote this:

“NO ONE should claim any definitive knowledge as yet – which defaults to each of us knows what is in our own best interests. And in a life or death situation, anyone who interferes ought to be imprisoned, or worse. Think about how you would feel if the situation were reversed, and perhaps you will avoid making such strong opinion calls, without a rational basis – you have a public audience. Who knows how much harm you could cause…. thank you…”

On the surface, I guess the above portion of the comment sounds reasonable enough. Most people would like to make their own decisions about “life or death situations”. But there’s a reason why people go to medical school to become physicians. There are good reasons why physicians must be trained and licensed before they can practice medicine and make treatment decisions for others.

I don’t go to lawyers or judges for medical treatment decisions. I go to competent healthcare professionals who have specific training and experience in treating medical issues. If I, as a competent adult, choose not to go to a healthcare professional and seek alternative care from someone else, that might be my decision and it might only harm me. Some people would probably think it unwise, but I suppose it would be my “right”. And if I had a disease that wasn’t contagious, maybe that would be okay, if ill-advised.

When it comes to COVID-19, I think we have to consider the impact one person’s decisions might have on another’s. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious and potentially deadly virus, and it seems to be getting more contagious with each new variant. There aren’t enough hospital beds to take care of all of the people who need them, to include people who have other medical problems besides COVID. Ivermectin is currently not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment against COVID. Is it being studied by researchers? Probably… but at this point in time, Ivermectin is NOT currently supported by the medical community for use in treating COVID-19. That is a fact. I don’t know if Ivermectin ever will be named the key to conquering COVID-19, but at this point, it is still not recommended.

What I do know is that some people are taking it upon themselves to self-medicate with the drug. Most of them don’t know what they’re doing. Some of them are getting very sick and, no doubt, taking up hospital bed space needed by people who don’t routinely take drugs intended for veterinary use. So the fact that it’s being widely touted by certain groups as a “cure” or effective treatment is, in my view, irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

Moreover, even in the case of “off-label” use for drugs (and I once had a doctor who prescribed a drug for me for “off-label” reasons), there’s usually a consensus that the drug is useful for that purpose. At this point, I haven’t seen much support for Ivermectin to be used in that way by reputable medical professionals. I’ve only seen it touted by people who are pushing conspiracy theories.

Even if Ivermectin is a great drug for COVID-19, and I have not yet seen any compelling evidence that it is, it should certainly not be used by laypeople who have no experience with its use. People should not be going to their local feed and tack shop, buying up horse wormer to ward off COVID-19. That’s my opinion, of course. You can take that for whatever it’s worth.

As someone with a master’s degree in public health and actual work experience in epidemiology, I think I know how to research these things. However, I will admit that I don’t have all of the answers. I just know enough to find someone who knows more than I do and listen to what they have to say. I think that’s a pretty wise way to live life, but your mileage may vary. So far, it’s served me pretty well.

I do think it’s interesting that many people who wouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine because “it’s [wasn’t] FDA approved” (a situation that is changing) and “we don’t know the long-term effects of the vaccine”, are all into using Ivermectin off-label to treat COVID-19, which is definitely not FDA approved. We’ve seen some real and documented evidence by trusted entities that COVID vaccinated individuals are staying out of hospitals and not getting as sick as unvaccinated people are. Most of what I’ve read about Ivermectin treatment in COVID-19 cases is that people are overdosing on it and getting sick. I don’t know about you, but that makes me think that taking Ivermectin isn’t the smartest idea.

Moreover, an article by The Guardian from July 2021 reports that a “huge” study endorsing Ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment was withdrawn over ethics concerns. I will admit that I haven’t looked for anything from September that refutes this article, which basically states that a lot of medical providers were defrauded, but I do know that July wasn’t long ago. And as a run-of-the-mill blogger, I’m not going to take the time to go poring through medical journals for an opinion based blog post that gets maybe 25 hits in a day.

The person who wrote to me this morning reminded me that hospital doctors must “toe” the “party line (and it’s “toe”, not “tow”) or they’ll get fired. The person also wrote that the “ban” against Ivermectin is “politically motivated.” As I mentioned up post, this person appeared to be writing me from Las Vegas, which means he or she is residing in the United States.

They might be interested in knowing that I live in Germany, where Ivermectin is also not recommended for treatment against COVID-19, outside of a clinical trial. So, if banning Ivermectin for COVID-19 use is “politically motivated” in the United States, am I to believe that the ban is also “politically motivated” in Europe? Because Germany is not the only European country that does not recommend the use of Ivermectin for treating the coronavirus. Here’s a link from March from the European Medicines Agency, which is as official in Europe as the CDC and the FDA are in the United States. Likewise, the World Health Organization also recommends that Ivermectin only be used in clinical trial settings…

In other words, Ivermectin should probably NOT be used by any old physician who is throwing everything against the wall to see if something sticks. Who knows what the motivation is behind those physicians who are touting off-label use of Ivermectin? Perhaps they are politically and financially motivated. As a matter of fact, how do I know what my commenter’s motivations are for taking the time to write to me after having spent about three minutes reading two posts on this blog? Why does it even matter to that person what my opinions about Judge Cunningham and Ivermectin use in COVID cases are?

In any case, what I really want to address in today’s post is this person’s parting shot to me.

Think about how you would feel if the situation were reversed, and perhaps you will avoid making such strong opinion calls, without a rational basis – you have a public audience. Who knows how much harm you could cause…. thank you…

So basically, the commenter seems to think that because some people might somehow construe my opinions as “medical advice”, I shouldn’t express myself on a blog because I might unintentionally cause them “harm”. Or, at least that’s what I think I’m reading. And people who read my blog are not smart enough to think for themselves and are coming to me for advice on life and death issues. Right. Does this person think the same thing about people who express opinions on social media platforms?

This is a blog. It’s not even a very popular blog. On a good day, I crack about 200 hits. The vast majority of people who read this blog are total strangers to me. Anyone who goes to a blogger for medical advice, particularly when the name of the blog is “The Overeducated HOUSEWIFE” and not “The Overeducated Physician”, is not long on common sense. Why would any sane person go to a self-proclaimed housewife for medical advice? But I guess, since this person seems to think I have so much power because of my “public audience”, I’ll put up a legal disclaimer.

If you are seriously unwell and need medical assistance, I think you should seek the advice of a competent and licensed healthcare provider in your area. You should not go to a personal blog written by a total stranger for medical advice. I would hope that notion would be common sense, but now I realize that some people need to be explicitly told. So thanks to this morning’s commenter for that. I’ll make a note of it.

As always, I wish everyone who reads my blog continued good health and success in life. And please, if you are going to send me a Facebook private message on my OH page, do me a favor and reference the post to which you are referring. Or, even better, simply comment on the post itself. I usually provide links on the official OH page for those who don’t want to make a WordPress account.

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celebrities, complaints

Now, I know why…

Happy Monday, everybody. I, for one, am glad the weekend is over. I spent it alone again, although it wasn’t without a little excitement. As I wrote in my travel blog, on Saturday night, our dog Noyzi was a naughty boy who ate part of a brand new toy. I explained the drama involved with that situation, and I’m happy to report that everything turned out fine. Noyzi is totally okay after that experience. It was upsetting and frustrating on many levels, though, because I unexpectedly found myself somewhat helpless in that situation. There was so much to think about that, two or three years ago, I wouldn’t have needed to consider.

Two years ago, my biggest issue would have been getting Noyzi into the back of the car for a trip to the vet’s office. But thanks to the pandemic, there was so much more to prepare for, right down to making sure I had a fucking face mask. In the end, it wasn’t necessary for me to rush Noyzi to the vet on Saturday night. It’s still unnerving that doing so would have been difficult. I guess if it had come down to it, I could have tried to get help from the neighbors, although I know the next door neighbor wasn’t home when this was happening.

COVID-19 has made things infinitely more complicated for everyone. I’ve noticed that people have less patience than they used to have. There’s also a marked decrease in civility across the board. I’ve noticed that people are a lot less willing to listen to opinions they don’t happen to share. And instead of just quietly scrolling by, they get into arguments that quickly get heated. Sometimes, those arguments are also offline. Which brings me to the title of today’s post.

Last night, I noticed I got a bunch of hits on an old post I wrote about the actor, Ricky Schroder, I had written for my old Google blog. I reposted that piece some time ago, mainly because I thought it was interesting. I know not everyone shares my opinions about what’s interesting and what’s not. When I repost things from the old blog, I notice they don’t tend to be read right away. But then, if something comes up in the news, people will find those reruns. Sometimes, that leads to interesting connections. For instance, I got a comment on the contact page last night from someone who had read a repost of a piece I wrote about seven years ago. I especially tend to get these kinds of comments on true crime posts– from true crime buffs, crime writers and researchers, and sometimes even friends and families of the victims or perpetrators.

So anyway, Ricky Schroder is in the news again, which has caused people to search for info about him. That’s led some new people to my blog. Ricky Schroder is notoriously conservative. He was a Mormon convert for a number of years. He helped bail teen Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse out of jail last year. He’s a big proponent of gun rights. And evidently, he’s now in the news for being against being forced to wear a face mask at Costco.

Ricky Schroder posted a video to his Facebook page showing him confronting an employee at Costco, who wouldn’t let him in the store without a mask. Evidently, in the wake of the CDC’s recent announcement that face masks are no longer necessary for fully vaccinated people, Costco dropped its face mask requirements. However, the new rule only applies in places where local ordinances don’t still require masking. In Los Angeles, which is where Ricky wanted to shop at Costco, masking indoors still applies. That’s why Ricky was confronted by a Costco employee named Jason, who would not let him pass the front door. Jason sounds very much like he’s been well-trained by his corporate leaders. I sympathize with him, and commend him for keeping his cool, under the circumstances. But I guess if you live in Los Angeles, you might be used to seeing 80s era TV stars every day.

Ricky says that people should boycott Costco. He’s come to the store to get a refund and, I guess, to drop his membership. Bill and I had a Costco membership when we lived in Texas. It wasn’t very useful for us, since there’s only two of us in the house. I also don’t like shopping in big warehouses. However, I know that a lot of people love Costco and it’s a company that is reportedly very good to its employees. And, to be honest, I hate wearing face masks, so I wouldn’t want to shop at Costco right now, anyway. On one hand, I agree with Ricky that the idea that we should all wear masks indefinitely is not a good one. On the other hand, I also respect the rights of business owners to run their businesses the way they see fit. Costco is a private business, and especially as a Republican, Ricky Schroder should have respected that, and their right to set policies that work for their business. He doesn’t have to shop there, and it sounds like, from now on, he won’t.

As someone who used to have to deal with the public, I have a lot of empathy for Jason and his cohorts. And as someone who votes blue, but sometimes leans right, I understand how Ricky feels, too. I hate that COVID-19 has made everything so complicated and political. This should not be a political issue at all. It’s about avoiding getting sick and dying or spreading diseases that can kill other people. I think a person can be cooperative with policies and not be pro or against an issue. I know it’s trendy for people to make assumptions about a person’s politics by how they feel about masking or other hot button issues. Hell, I’m even guilty myself of figuring out who is pro Trump, simply based on their behavior. I remember a couple of years ago, I correctly surmised a couple of guys were Trump supporters because they got drunk and decided to test out a bullet proof vest. That’s just not the kind of thing the average liberal does… although I suppose it’s possible a Biden fan might try such a stunt.

What put this on my mind today? It’s partly because last night, I was reading a news article about how the new mask guidelines have caused mass confusion and strife in the United States. The CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, is now having to defend the new guidance as people have gotten up in arms about it. For approximately the last year (because the mask habit was slower to pick up in some areas than others) the overwhelming advice by public health experts has been to wear face masks. Just a couple of months ago, some experts were advising people to “double mask”. To be honest, that idea was not gonna fly with me at all. I found the idea of wearing two masks really horrifying. The idea that the air is so fouled with pathogens that I need to cover my face everywhere while wearing two masks? That just sounds dystopian to me. Nope… I will wear only one mask, and only where they are required and I can’t avoid going.

After the double mask fad that was going on a few months ago, it was very strange to hear the CDC suddenly reverse course. It was even stranger to hear the people who were begging people to listen to the experts at the CDC suddenly changing course, telling people NOT to listen to them. As I read that news article last night, I was reminded of how annoyed I was last year when people kept sharing the “public urination” meme, comparing wearing a mask to wearing pants and not peeing on people. I lost my temper with more than one person who shared that with me, partly because unlike many people who were sharing it, I’ve actually taken courses in epidemiology and worked in the public health field. The comparison of spreading COVID-19 to public urination was just non-sensical to me. They aren’t comparable situations. Who goes around peeing on people? Even if they did, avoiding pee is much easier than avoiding airborne viruses or other microscopic microbes.

So glad to see this meme died, at long last.

Last night, I read an angry comment from some guy who compared going maskless to driving drunk. Once again, I was shaking my head at the lunacy. Driving drunk is something that only people who drink alcohol and drive cars do. Not everyone drives. Not everyone drinks alcohol. And not everyone chooses to drink and drive. We all have to breathe, though, and until COVID-19 showed up, breathing uninhibited by a face mask was completely appropriate and okay. Moreover, even those who wear masks can spread the virus or catch it, even though the risk is much lower. But if you don’t breathe, you will die. Breathing is necessary for living. Driving a car and/or drinking booze or both are not necessary for living. The masks aren’t normal, and we shouldn’t normalize this situation. This is a temporary condition and it should be treated as such.

Ditto to the seatbelt argument. To me, the masks aren’t like seatbelts. Seatbelts are only worn in the car or on the airplane. They don’t inhibit communication, breathing, eating, drinking, socializing, vision (because of fogging up or the mask riding up), or hearing (because of the ear loops that sometimes knock out hearing aids or make lip reading hard). Moreover, we’ll probably all be wearing seatbelts for the rest of our lives… at least until cars are obsolete. The masks, on the other hand, I hope are temporary. Even if we can’t get rid of COVID, I’m hoping someone will come up with a way to temper the virus so it’s not such a threat anymore. Car accidents, I fear, are always going to be a threat to human life, no matter what.

Mark my words… someone will come up with some kind of HVAC system that kills viruses… or some other system that eventually makes the masks unnecessary indoors. A year ago, I was worried that the masks would become trendy forever, but now I know that people really do want to be rid of them. That’s comforting to me.

Noyzi this morning. He’s in fine fettle.

In any case… none of this drama affects me personally. I’m still in Germany, where vaccinations are finally picking up, but aren’t as widespread as they are in the United States. The Rewe is still only letting 35 properly masked people in their stores at a time. Things are still shut down here, although there is talk that fully vaccinated or recovered people will be allowed more freedoms. Actually, that is currently the case in Germany, although I can’t enjoy it myself until next month. I don’t get shot #2 until June 9th, and I won’t be considered fully vaccinated until the 23rd. However, it is comforting to see that widespread sickness is going down in the USA. The vaccines are working. With any luck, things will get markedly better soon for a lot of people. Frankly, I’m just glad that in a few days, Bill will (hopefully) be home… and if Noyzi eats another toy, we can handle it together. As for Ricky Schroder… I hope he finds a retailer whose policies are more in line with his right wing politics.

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healthcare, law

Freaking out over faltering federal mask mandates…

Well… just as I predicted last year, the time has come for governments around the world to reverse course on the pandemic. Not every government, mind you… I think I read that Australia is still pretty locked down, trying to keep COVID-19 at bay. But European countries are trying to find a way to open up a bit this summer, especially as people are finally getting vaccinated. In the United States, there was an even bigger surprise. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has stated that both fully vaccinated adults may now ditch their face masks indoors and outdoors in most situations.

This is a contrast to the advice given two weeks ago, that vaccinated adults could ditch their masks outside– and they could also potentially ditch them inside, but only if they’re with other fully vaccinated adults. Now they’re evidently saying it doesn’t matter if others aren’t also vaccinated. Masks among vaccinated people will, evidently, only be necessary at medical facilities and on public transportation, like trains, buses, and airplanes. A month ago, there was all this news about deadly new variants and how we’ll never reach herd immunity. And now, the news seems to be signaling the end, or at least a pause, in the worst part of the pandemic.

I remember last year, when all of this shit started, I told Bill that eventually, the government would be asking people to venture out again. They would do it because the economy would be in a shambles. I also predicted that many people would not want to venture out. They would be too shell-shocked and traumatized by all of the COVID-19 doom porn, even with all of the safety precautions in place. Sure enough, based on the comments I read on The New York Times piece I linked above, that is what has come to pass. Governments are now saying they want to reopen things– New York City has even made a plea for tourists to return. In Europe, governments are trying to find ways to open up to tourists so they can make money. Vaccines are supposedly working pretty well, although new COVID-19 variants are also coming out all the time. The face masks are a downer, and allowing people to dispense with them if they get the shot(s) is one way to encourage vaccine cooperation.

The funny thing is, all year I’ve been reading indignant comments from pro-mask people about how science changes, and that’s why in early March of 2020, we were all being told NOT to buy face masks by the U.S. Surgeon General, and then that advice had changed within weeks. Now, since the CDC is saying that vaccinated people will be able to enjoy some freedom, many of the same people who were once extolling the virtues of science and scientists, are now bitching about how it’s too soon to loosen face masking and allowing people to unmask will be a disastrous decision.

Quite a few people seem to think this rule relaxation was done purely for political reasons. Many people have expressed that they believe unvaccinated “anti-maskers” will use this new guidance as a reason to flout the rules. So many people, who had once praised Dr. Fauci and the CDC, are now saying that the decision to relax the mask rules is a terrible, unscientific idea that spells DOOM for everyone. And, perhaps rightfully so, people are saying that people have no honor, and there will be no way to enforce people to keep taking precautions until they have been vaccinated. Fake vaccination cards are already becoming a problem, and the conspiracy theorists worry that the vaccines have chips in them that will invade their privacy (seriously?).

What happened to all of the respect for scientists? All of a sudden, because the rules have abruptly changed, just as they did last year, the scientists are wrong and simply pandering to politicians? And now, all of the people who, a couple of months ago, were liberally quoting and religiously following the scientists, are saying they are going to rely on their own common sense? Isn’t that the same behavior they were shaming the “anti-vaxxers” and “anti-maskers” for doing? Also, again, I notice that the “experts” all seem to be saying different things… which means that everybody has to decide for themselves which one is correct, and which course of action will suit them best. Sounds a lot like life, to me.

Here’s what I think about those so-called “anti-vaxxers” and “anti-maskers”. First off, many of those people never followed the rules anyway, so it’s doubtful that this rule change will affect them. I mean… if they get sick from COVID-19, they’ll get sick. Some won’t get very sick. Some will die. That’s how it’s been all year. Lots of people are commenting that, despite being vaccinated, they will keep wearing a mask so they “won’t be mistaken for a Republican” or “to make other people feel better”– that is, the ones who are comforted by the sight of someone whose face they can’t see fully. Others, who have children that can’t yet be vaccinated, are saying they are going to keep wearing a mask for that reason, even though last year so many people were saying that the masks are intended to protect other people, and not the wearer. Now they’re saying that the masks also protect the wearer, which is probably what they should have said from the beginning. But see? The information is constantly changing, isn’t it?

Personally, I don’t find seeing everyone in face masks comforting. They are a constant reminder of how fucked up things are, how lonely I am (especially when my half vaccinated husband has to travel on business for weeks on end), and how I don’t enjoy this lifestyle at all. That’s just how I feel about it, though… and the person who IS comforted by face masks also has a right to their feelings and opinions about this issue. Fortunately, it’s not like face masks have been outlawed, so they are free to keep doing what they’ve always been doing. Given how many people in the USA were completely uncooperative regarding COVID-19 safety mandates anyway, I don’t think much is going to change in the wake of this new guidance.

Sadly, what it will boil down to is money… and the fact that the safety rules are very expensive in terms of the economy. Lots of people cheer when they read stories about anti-maskers being arrested, fined, jailed, or banned from services like airlines. But all of those measures cost money. Banning someone from an airline for not wearing a face mask often doesn’t just mean that one person is banned– it also means their immediate family will be effectively banned, even if they weren’t officially so by their airline, as will any loyal extended family members and friends who happen to be on their side of the issue. That could add up to a lot of missed revenue that affects people other than the folks running the airlines… it also might affect hotels, restaurants, tour operators, taxi drivers, and even retailers that sell travel gear. If I wanted to, I could probably sit here for an hour and think of all of the people that are potentially affected when someone gets banned for life from flying.

Now… I do think some good can come out of this past year of COVID-19 hell. Perhaps employers will rethink some of their more destructive policies, like encouraging workers to come into an office setting when they’re sick. Maybe working from home will become an even more viable solution for companies, which could mean that more children are raised by their actual parents instead of at a day care. Maybe there will be less vehicular congestion and accompanying air pollution, too, since people can roll out of bed and walk ten feet to their “office” instead of sitting in traffic for hours every day. And maybe airlines will stop cramming people into seats like sardines… although I would be VERY surprised if that happens.

I do think wearing the mask is a good idea if one is sick. Judging by the slow cold and flu season, they are helpful in that regard. However… I don’t think the enforced mask fashion is a sustainable concept. I’m glad to see it going. I hope it stays gone, although I’m not going to hold my breath. Fortunately, thanks to the vaccine and staying the fuck away from people (which is really the best way to avoid getting sick from a virus), it’s still possible for me to hold my breath.

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politicians, politics, Trump

Rally for Trump! But if you get COVID-19, don’t sue!

This morning, as I read about some truly idiotic and offensive things said by Republicans regarding COVID-19 and black people, I couldn’t help but notice that Trump is wanting to “rebuild our nation” by holding rallies. However, because he’s an asshole who can’t admit that he’s handled the whole coronavirus pandemic horribly, Trump is demanding that there be no social distancing or face masks worn. Moreover, his handlers have also added the following statement to his website for those who register to attend:

So… not only can you not sue if you get sick, you’ll also get texts from the orange fuckwad… AND you’ll probably have to pay for them, too. Message data rates may apply, after all.

I’m sure Donald would love for as many people as possible to come listen to him speak. And he’s chosen an interesting day on which to hold his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the city in which black residents were massacred in 1921. It’ll be on “Juneteenth”, a day in which many black Americans celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. But show up without a mask, and don’t expect to have empty seats between you and the next stranger who just wants to “make America great again” and “rebuild the nation”… (Rebuild? I thought Trump made it “great” again… I guess it takes longer than three years of hell for that to happen. He made it sound so easy back in 2016!)

If you get sick or someone in your party dies from COVID-19, don’t be coming to Trump for any restitution! YOU made the choice to be downwind of the fetid hot air emanating from his mouth and rectum. YOU made the choice to get sick… although maybe some of his followers would claim that you need to get right with God so you don’t fall ill. Perhaps if you plan to attend a Trump rally, you might want to check your health insurance coverage… and maybe bring a Bible and do some praying. Personally, I plan to stay home.

Trump is also holding rallies in Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina, as COVID-19 infections continue to rise, probably thanks to all the protesting that has been going on lately over the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. But despite evidence that the pandemic is far from over at this point, Trump wants the show to go on… and he wants people not to take any precautions for their health. To be honest, I kind of wonder if these rallies will have the effect of culling some of the stupid from our ranks. You know… Darwin Awards are still a thing.

Meanwhile, Republican Ohio Senator Steve Huffman, who represents a district north of Dayton, made the news by asking this regarding rising COVID-19 rates among African Americans:

“I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and that makes them more susceptible to death from covid. But why does it not make them more susceptible to just get covid? Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that be the explanation for why the higher incidence?”

These questions got a quick response from Angela Dawson, a black woman who is the executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health:

“That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country. Do all populations need to wash their hands? Absolutely, sir, but that is not where you are going to find the variance and the rationale for why these populations are more vulnerable.”

This is actually very interesting to me on a personal level. When I was in graduate school, I worked as a graduate assistant for South Carolina’s Bureau of Epidemiology at the Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC). It was my job to write up the results of the BRFSS– the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System. This system, which is ultimately run by the Centers for Disease Control, is a telephone survey that collects data from states regarding the health of citizens. The questions asked are about certain risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services. The data, which is collected in all 50 states, is divided by sex and race. I remember back in the day when I was interpreting the results and writing them up, people of color typically had less healthy outcomes than white people did and their life expectancies were lower. I see not much has changed almost twenty years later.

COVID-19 was obviously not a thing when I was involved with collecting and interpreting data from the BRFSS, but I’ll bet there are questions about it now. The CDC is tracking who is getting sick and how. And unfortunately, it looks like people of color are at a higher risk than white people. This is also true for a lot of chronic health conditions. The overall reasons for the higher rates of illness are ultimately complex, although some of the reasons behind the infections are not so complex. It’s not a secret that people who are not as affluent tend to be in poorer health. It’s also not a secret that people of color are typically less affluent than white people are. When one has less money, one is likely less able to make choices– everything from dietary to living arrangements to work arrangements– that would prevent one from getting sick.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to stay away from most everyone except for Bill, who is also very privileged to be able to work from home. But there was a time in my life when I had to take public transportation to get to work, and my work required that I deal with people directly. I didn’t make much money, so I had to keep working at that job, until I was finally able to make a choice that allowed me to retire from it… and in order to make that choice– go to graduate school– I had to spend money on loans. Not everyone is able to make that choice. Not everyone can live alone, or with just one or two family members. Some people have to share quarters for financial reasons while they go to work every day, taking public transportation. That’s how they pick up communicable diseases like COVID-19. I doubt very much that it has to do with people simply not washing their hands often enough, regardless of their skin color. Although hand washing is VERY important.

The real kicker about this, though, is that Huffman is a physician himself! He worked as an emergency room doctor until he got fired due to his tone deaf comments about COVID-19! McHenry Lee, a spokesman for TeamHealth, where Huffman had a job until yesterday, had this to say:

“Dr. Huffman’s comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace. TeamHealth has terminated Dr. Huffman’s employment.”

Well, good on TeamHealth for routing out a “bad apple”. Actually, I have no way of knowing if Huffman is a good doctor, but I do think his comments were surprisingly ignorant, particularly given that he’s a physician. Moreover, I have been reading in the new Facebook group I joined about Black Lives Matter, that people of color are routinely treated differently by healthcare providers. For instance, they are less likely to believed when they claim to be in pain, and they are more likely to be treated dismissively when they have healthcare concerns. Yes, there are disparities in healthcare delivery caused by racist attitudes… and given Senator Huffman’s comments, I wonder what kind of care he gives to his black patients.

Anyway… another week has passed and I have managed to survive. Things are loosening up here in Germany, and COVID-19 still seems to be fairly under control, particularly compared to in the United States. It does look like my Keb’ Mo’ concert scheduled for November 2020 is being postponed until April 2021… but it also looks like we’ll still be here. At least, at this point in time it does. Hopefully, by then, we’ll have a new president who really does want to make America better for EVERYONE… not just the people who kiss his ass and sign a disclaimer not to sue him. Here’s hoping, anyway…

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Trump

Trump supporters are annoying, exhausting, and non-sensical…

Last night, a college friend of mine posted a negative comment about Donald Trump. He is not a Trump supporter at all, but he has a couple of female friends who love the orange turd. These women, for whatever reason, think Trump is a fuckin’ genius. And they had this to say…

Why is it that Trump supporters think money is the most important thing? And how do they equate the lying, raping, incompetent, immoral person that is Donald Trump to God?

I don’t get it. I really don’t. I posed a question on my own Facebook last night because after reading this exchange, I was just flabbergasted by the nonsense spouted here. People who don’t support Trump don’t deserve government stimulus money that is paid for by their taxes? And GOD sent Donald Trump to us? I’m puzzled. This is a man who lies, cheats, steals, and rapes… and proudly brags about harassing and molesting women. He was sent by God? That just does not compute.

Of course, lots of charismatic leaders hoodwink people into believing in them and following their counsel. God knows, Mormonism is full of such leaders… people like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, who married multiple teenagers. I could definitely fall down the rabbit hole of writing about corrupt religious leaders. They’re all coming out of the woodwork right now, anyway, telling cash strapped Americans that they should donate their “Band-Aid” stimulus money to their churches. The funny thing is, from what I’ve read, it looks like the Mormons are being somewhat sensible right now. It’s the fundie Christians who are really doing crazy things. And sadly, a lot of those fools are also politicians, saying things like “there are more important things than living…” which Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick says. Here he is, a pro-life politician, saying that people should risk their lives and health so that the economy doesn’t collapse. What good is a thriving economy to the dead? So much for being pro-life.

This morning, I read another boilerplate status passed around the states by people protesting the lockdowns. Once again, I was left shaking my head at the stupidity…

This is obviously cut and pasted and edited for Virginia. Virginia’s liquor stores are government run. Moreover, Ralph Northam will only get one term, because in Virginia, governors can’t immediately run for re-election. So why people are so fired up about Northam, I don’t understand. He’s a lame duck. And then there’s the rampant apostrophe abuse. If you don’t know that you don’t need apostrophes to make simple plurals, your message is weakened.

Once again… the above rant is entirely about money. Sure, the author has thrown in references to church and how important worship is (to those who believe, anyway). And yes, there’s a reference to how evil abortion is, even though the virus is incredibly contagious and has killed hundreds of thousands of people who were already born. Frankly, I would definitely not want to be pregnant right now. It’s too dangerous. But even if I were happily pregnant, there could be an emergency medical situation arising in which having an abortion would be essential. It could certainly be more essential than eating out in a restaurant or buying liquor.

There are many references to “social distancing” in the above post, although if everyone does what the author suggests, social distancing would be a lot harder to accomplish. If everyone goes out and does what the author suggests, there would be a lot of people mingling. And NO, the wait staff wearing masks isn’t helpful in a restaurant. Any human can shed the virus, so even if your waiter or waitress wears a mask, if you’re not wearing one, you can still unwittingly shed the virus to them and make them sick. In fact, you can still spread the virus even if you are wearing a mask. And you wouldn’t be able to eat or drink while you’re wearing one, anyway.

Personally, I think the mask requirement is more about optics than anything else. Viruses are extremely tiny, and they can infect people by accessing their eyes or other open parts of the body that are uncovered. Properly worn masks might help by stopping viruses that are attached to droplets of saliva and mucous, but not all of the virus particles will be. It really takes very little exposure to the virus before a person will get sick, and the viruses can hang in the air for awhile. Many people will not wear the masks properly or keep them clean. What’s more, the homemade masks are made with a variety of different materials, and by people who don’t routinely make them and don’t know what would make them useful. And they will be worn by people who don’t routinely wear them. A lot of those people will be touching the masks, moving them so they can speak, eat, or smoke, and reusing them repeatedly so they can shop without harassment. They won’t wash their hands, either.

I know what the Centers for Disease Control is now saying, even though just a couple of weeks ago, they weren’t encouraging mask usage. I prefer to go by what the World Health Organization says, anyway. That’s an organization that isn’t ultimately led by Donald Trump. I will use a face mask if I have to go in public, which thankfully, I don’t have to do very much at all. But I don’t have much faith that the masks will actually do much to help curtail the spread of disease. They’re more about people looking like they’re taking precautions and avoiding fines and harassment, since a lot of people will not wear, launder, or dispose of them properly. The masks will be inconvenient, unsanitary, and uncomfortable, particularly as the weather gets warmer. And I just don’t think they’re going to do much good, because human nature will win out over common sense.

I think the best thing to do is to stay home as much as possible and practice scrupulous hygiene… but even taking those measures, many of us will probably eventually be exposed, and a lot of people will become disabled or die, whether or not they wear masks. I have to go on our local military reservation soon, because I need to get a vision test and have passport photos taken. Masks are now required on post. I suspect I’ll have to remove the mask, at least for the photos. Then I’m going to come home and resume holing up in the house. It’s boring and depressing, and I don’t want to live my life this way for much longer.

I do realize how lucky Bill and I are. He’s able to do a lot of his work from home. In many ways, it’s been kind of nice having him around. We’re fortunate in that we haven’t experienced financial hardship yet, and we still get along very well. It’s lucky that he isn’t still married to his first wife. And it’s lucky that I don’t have to work with the public anymore to make a living.

Anyway… I guess I’ll go do some housework… maybe walk the dog. At least we have nice weather today.

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